Failure
by Amouthea
Summary: When Zim finds out the truth about his mission he realizes that Dib isn't his biggest enemy after all, but rather, he himself is...Can Dib convince him otherwise before it's too late? ZADR
1. Default Chapter

My first attempt at a semi-depressing short-story. Takes place when Dib and Zim are little, and does not coincide with my other stories at all. I hope it's at least vaguely enjoyable :)  
  
Muahahahah! I got my hands on some POCKY! Just for YOU!!! (my readers...) Enjoy! :P

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, none...=sniff=

Chapter 1

The glazed magenta eyes fixed his sodden and shaking frame with unmasked hatred, red-tinted malice glinting in the shadows of the unlit chamber. He took another hesitant step forward, forcing his own gaze to remain unwavering, merciless. The frigid rain-water seeped down the back of his trench coat, leaving him to shiver in the unheated, stagnant air. Unconsciously, he paused to wrap the folds tighter around him, wincing as the tough cloth pressed against the jagged scrapes lining his back.  
  
A muted click brought him to an abrupt halt, and he felt the tiny chilly prick as the hair at the base of his neck stood on end. 

"Don't come...any...closer." The raspy voice warned, strained breathing carefully masked. A gloved hand raised the malicious-looking object so it was aimed at the human's chest, gripping it so fiercely, Dib could hear the dull crackling of the black fabric as the alien's clawed fingers bent masterfully around the trigger.  
  
"Just give it up, Zim." The boy shifted his weight to the other foot, but didn't move forward. He eyed the small alien with obvious distaste, physically displaying all signs of readiness, not an ounce of fear visible. Emotionally, however, he was not so fully intact. _Something was wrong. Seriously wrong._ He could feel it clawing at the back of his shambled mind. Something that set this occasion apart from all others, a dark, dangerous something. His inner voice was screaming that much, leaving him feeling not only deeply confused, but slightly frightened as well. He shifted his gaze from that of his crouching nemesis to the slick floor. Pools of shimmery liquid could be seen as far as the doorway. Deep red and purplish puddles. Mainly purple ones...  
  
"Drop the gun, Zim. Before you pass out and I grab it anyway."  
  
"Never. I will never surrender to the likes of you, human." His arm was beginning to shake, but he didn't relinquish the weapon, or take his eyes off the boy standing before him.  
  
Dib sighed. This was going absolutely nowhere. And he himself was beginning to feel vaguely dizzy. He held his arms up, in a peaceful gesture. "Look, what's this about anyway? I've never seen you this furious before..."  
  
"I already told you that it doesn't concern you. So do us both a favor and LEAVE!"  
  
Dib smirked. "With you so vulnerable? I think not. Do you honestly expect me to fall for your latest pathetic little plot? To shed my absolute hatred of you like I will this wet coat once I get home? Huh? I certainly hope not, Zim. Because that would be too pathetic, even for you. I will never stop hating you..." Dib narrowed his eyes for effect, hoping his arch nemesis would buy the bluff and drop the gun so he could go back to bed. _Yes, continuing this predicament another time seemed like a perfectly good idea, with clean clothes, and maybe somewhere else. In the sunlight, at least_...  
  
He lowered his soggy-sleeved arms. The injured invader was looking at him strangely, almost...sadly? _No, that couldn't be it. It was another trick. It had to be_...  
  
Dib was beginning to have serious doubts about the whole situation now. He wondered at the alien's bizarre behavior. He seemed to have demolished his entire underground lab, broken glass and wires littered the messy floor. He himself was tattered and bruised when Dib had found him, sitting in the darkest corner, muttering in an unintelligible dialect, face buried in his knees. Only when he had heard the click of the manual camera as it took his picture, did he spring to life, attacking the young paranormal investigator with a strange fury. That wasn't too uncommon. They had had a fair number of brawls since the alien's arrival. But this was different. Some passionate form of desperation was present in the Irken's attacks. His blows were more brutal, claws sinking much deeper. He was drawing blood...  
  
The dark stains stood out gruesomely on the normally reddish-uniform the Irken wore, and his green skin had paled considerably, lustrous eyes visibly dimming. Dib was actually beginning to worry about him now. Didn't he notice how much blood he had lost? Any being would be dangerously weakened by now.  
  
He had to end this quickly. _Enough was enough._ "Nope. I didn't buy it. Not for a second. Not even when your pathetic excuse for a robot knocked at my door, begging me to come over and 'fix his master'."  
  
Zim looked up, surprised, a trickle of blood sliding down the side of his face. "GIR? Where is that insane little SIR unit anyway?" he asked absent-mindedly, scanning the room, hand lowering subconsciously.  
  
Dib shrugged. "Short-circuited in the rain. But I left the frazzled remains on the couch..." There was a soft clang as the nozzle of the gun touched the floor. Dib took the opportunity to lunge at the alien, sending the weapon skittering through the shards as it slid across the floor. He pinned Zim's thin arms to the ground, expecting resistance. There was none.  
  
He let out a sigh of relief, looking into the large reddish eyes. "It's over, Zim. You lost. Again. As you always will...but I'm not stupid enough to even begin to believe you'll give up, so I'll see you tomorrow. Be..."  
  
Zim wasn't looking at him any more. It was almost as if he was gazing through him, and into ceiling far above them. "They were right. I am a failure. Complete and u...utter...f..."  
  
"Zim?"  
  
There was no reply. The horribly dimmed ruby-eyes shut and didn't open again. And they never would...  
  
Dib sat up, stricken, releasing the limp arms. Tears streamed down his young face as he looked down at the only person he ever really admired, the closest thing he would ever have to a friend....  
  
Lifeless on the cold, heartless, metallic floor.  
  
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Dib woke up sobbing, on the floor of his room. After a long while, he removed his hands from his face, wiping his eyes on a pajama sleeve and putting on his glasses. Numbly, he looked at the neon red numbers of his bedside clock. 11:51PM. They were hated digits. The exact same time he had woken up in that horrid dream...  
  
He jumped at the sound of the doorbell ringing. He looked at the clock once more. _No, it couldn't be_...  
  
He pulled on his trench coat and raced down the stairs, flinging the front door open. Tears welled up in his eyes.  
  
Equally distressed, albeit artificial cyan ones looked back up at him.  
  
"Dibby-human...master's in trouble...fix...fix my master..."  
  
The little robot then collapsed on the cement with a dull clunk, eyes fading to gray beneath the torrent of rain. Dib picked up the faulty SIR unit and tucked it into the folds of his coat, dashing down the darkened steps and across the slick pavement of the street, to the odd little green house that wouldn't be glowing this night.  
  
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The more reviews I get, the faster I'll update!! J/k :P All my faithful reviewers know I can't stay away. ; ) but it might take a little while...  
  
It all depends on these wretched things =glares at the stacks of empty boxes= and how fast I can cram my stuff into them. =munches on some pocky, drooling= Food.....yummmm....heh? Oh yeah...= Starts tossing random junk in=


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dib stepped tentatively into the unlit room, eyes already adjusted to the darkness from his speedy passage through the underground tunnels. The only detectable sound was the soft crunching of the glass-bits beneath his bare feet. He grimaced at the minute stinging at the soles of his feet, but forced himself to continue, eyes scanning for movement. He froze for a moment, straining his ears to listen intently for the slightest sliver of sound, a soft shift in the far corner, an alien dialect murmured amid sobs...

A large crash from behind him caused him to jump. A figure could be detected to the far right corner of the room. As inaudibly and hastily as possible he padded across the floor to crouch behind a metallic counter. A dark substance was dripping from the keyboard upon it, a small puddle forming around on the floor tiles. He knew what it was. _And who it came from._ He raised his head enough to peek over the surface, forcing his eyes to pick out the dark-enveloped proceedings across the room.

Zim let the mangled piece of equipment slide to the floor, clacking upon contact. Another piece of expensive garbage he had pleaded with the Tallest for. The Tallest....He could still picture the utter contempt in those large eyes, the annoyed shifting of the brow, a disgusted twitch of antennae. Thinking back upon it now, he realized it had always been that way. Their distaste for him was barely masked, if at all. So obvious now..._Why hadn't he noticed before?_

Dib watched the small Irken sink to the floor numbly, a limp rag doll of the once proud invader. Something horrible must have happened to reduce Zim to that pitiful heap, shaking silently on the floor. _But what?_ The rain-drenched boy rose slowly. Perhaps his arch nemesis' rage had passed?

Zim slammed a fist down onto the floor, transparent splinters penetrating his already tattered gloves. He clenched his hands into fists until the blood welled up in his palms, eyes now leaking, as well. He hadn't wanted to believe it...the truth...not just about his mission, but about himself. _No one,_ he realized, _could be blamed for his current predicament. No one but himself_. He screwed his eyes shut to the point of raw discomfort. _Himself...The most loathsome of beings_...He wanted to shred himself upon those sharp malice-glint fragments...

A soft crunch came from his left. He looked up, surprised. A dark figure was making its way towards him, delicately. He clenched his teeth. _Would that wretched earth-child not even let him enjoy death in peace?_

Dib froze. The alien was glaring at him with a never-before seen ferocity, eyes narrowed murderously. He rose, opening his hands. Bits of glass and blood fell to the tiles as he approached the boy.

"I bet you find it funny. My base like this..." he waved an arm at the room. "Bet you came to laugh while..."

"W...what happened, Zim?" Dib interrupted, silently cursed at his wavering voice. _Don't let him know you're afraid! Force the tremor from your voice..._

"Why do you want to know?" He fixed the boy with a deeply penetrating crimson-tinted gaze. _Why isn't he smiling that disgustingly haughty smile of his? Isn't this what he wanted? To see me in dejected, undeniably defeated_...

"Tell me." He returned the alien's stare, eyes pleading. _I want to know. Would you believe me if I said so?_

"I will never tell you, earth-stink! Now leave, before I destroy you in an immensely painful fashion..." His face faltered temporarily. Did the human sound..._concerned? NO! A ploy. It must be_...

"I can't do that, Zim." A faint smile crossed humorless lips. Dib took a step forward, hand outstretched. It was knocked away vehemently. This wasn't too far from how it started in the dream. He took a deep breath. _Here goes..._

There was a muted crunching of shards and the faint squick of fabric against the vital purple fluid as he tackled the alien to the liquid-splatter mirror-like floor. He felt the anticipated raking of the back of his trench coat, biting his lip to pacify the pain. He pressed Zim's arms to the floor with all his strength. Dismayed, he noticed that it was the direct cause of newly blossoming purple stains on the thin, striped sleeves. He loosened his grip.

And was sent flying through the air to the opposite wall of the lab as Zim kicked him off ferociously.

"I won't let the likes of YOU defeat me!" He lifted the human by the front of his shirt and slammed his back against the wall. "You will not succeed in finishing me off, you pathetic worm. Never!" He pinned the boy's shoulders to the wall, claws sinking deep. _Why wasn't he enjoying_ _this?_

"Zim, stop! You have to.._stop_ before..." He grit his teeth against the throbbing at his shoulders. He kneed the invader in the abdomen, and felt the pain in his shoulders subside remotely as the claws were retracted from the crescent-shaped wounds. His head met the wall with a dull clunk as his feet were kicked out from under him, and he groaned as they began wrestling amongst the glass once again. He began to panic. Nothing much had changed so far...the shimmer-pools dotted the floor as before, _the injuries were the same as in the dream up to this point_...

"No!" He dodged another blow and scooted away hurriedly, back against the icy wall. His own huffing could be heard, along with Zim's panting and the soft sizzle of skin that had come in contact with the human's drenched clothing.

"STOP! I don't want to fight you anymore, Zim." He wiped a hand across a busted lip, eyeing his enemy with a beseeching gaze.

Zim glared at him accusingly. "Then why did you come here in the first place? Did you really expect me to surrender without a fight? Huh? Did you, DIB?"

Dib winced at the malicious tone. Somehow, he had thought it would've been easier. _At least, he pictured it would be as he ran here for the second time_...

"No." He pulled his knees to his chest. "I came to stop it..."

"Stop what?" The Irken was utterly baffled now. He moved to scoot back a bit more.

"STOP!"

"What?!" Zim jumped at the human boy's sudden outburst, but froze.

Dib rose slowly. He could see it now. The slightest hint of a glimmer in a sea of darkness. _That was it. That was what must have dealt the fatal blow..._Zim turned around warily to see what the human was looking at, and gasped. _He must have lost track of where in the room he was. The protruding, serrated edges of the transport pod gaped seemingly-hungrily at his bloodied uniform._

_I must have pushed him into that...without knowing it. I didn't know! If I had, I wouldn't have_...Dib knelt on the floor, disregarding the tiny jabs at his knees. He let out a sigh of relief. "I did it..." A faint smile played across his slick lips.

Zim sat down on the disheveled floor and watched the human in perplexed silence. He had come here to..._save_ him? _But the earth-child hated him! Surely there was something more to this. How had the human known something was wrong?_

Dib caught the tint of confusion in his nemesis', still thankfully, gleaming eyes.

"GIR got me. Said something was wrong." He shivered. Why was it so cold?

Zim was silent for a long while. "And you...came to...help me?"

Dib nodded, a little dazed with relief.

After a long moment of looking at the floor, the little alien nodded, as if regarding the situation with a new perspective. "Where's GIR?" he asked meekly.

"On the couch upstairs. You'll need to fix him, I'm afraid. It was pouring..." He stood up once again.

_He wasn't even wearing shoes_...Zim noticed, taken aback. He frowned ashamedly at the current physical condition of his rival. He pulled his knees up and wrapped thin, torn arms around them, face hidden._ He really was the ultimate screw up._ _Perhaps it was kind of the Tallest to point that out. He might have never realized it..._He curled up tighter. _What was he going to do now? He couldn't return to Irk. Ever._ He bit a bloody lip in an attempt to keep from crying again. _And now the human surely hated him, if he hadn't already in the first place_. The tears began to flow. Somehow, he felt so much worse...

He tensed at the light touch at his shoulder. He looked up as he felt something beside him.

Dib wrapped an arm around the Irken's shoulders, vaguely remembering his mother doing the same when he was little and troubled. "Will you tell me what's wrong now?" he asked gently.

Zim stared at him long and pensively before he nodded slowly, and, leaning hesitantly into the comfort of the embrace, told Dib about his banishment, the realization that ensued, and the bitter and consuming hatred of himself, spurred from it all. Despite his suspicions, the boy just listened, nodding solemnly, understanding. The invader-no-more puzzled at this. _Where was the usual disgust and reprimand? The promises of exposure and autopsies?_

They sat in silence for a while, similar expressions of comfort, a secretive cache of loneliness pacified in both hearts. The beneficial charm of eachother's company.

"Zim?"

"Yes?"

"There's something I think you should know before I go home."_ It had to be three in the morning, at least..._

"What?"

_How do I say it? I don't even know what I want to say..."_I...well, I..." Zim was looking at him closely, expecting the worse, it looked like. He felt the alien tense up.

_He thinks I'm absolutely pathetic now. He expects me to turn myself in....Although I don't think that's such a bad idea anymore..._

"I...don't want to be enemies anymore, Zim." He turned to see the ex-invader's reaction. He looked completely caught off guard. "I mean...I wouldn't mind if we could talk like this again sometimes...if its ok with you, that is."

A tiny trace of a smile could be detected on Zim's face. _How long had he desired such a thing? Since their escapades began to get old, perhaps...when he began forming schemes for the sole purpose of having them foiled by the earthling..._

"I'd like that very much...Dib." He smiled at his new pronunciation of the name, something only adoration could change. He returned his new companion's embrace. "Very much..."


End file.
